Headache

The first snow was pure and bright. The charcoal fire burned fiercely indoors, so warm that Shen Tingjue had even taken off his padded jacket. Seven or eight plates of delicacies from land and sea sat before him, along with a large bowl of nourishing bird's nest soup. He was living more happily than an immortal.

Shen Tingjue propped his cheek on one hand and poked at the fish with his chopsticks, looking thoroughly displeased.

Steward Feng ladled him a bowl of crucian carp soup and said with a cheerful smile, "Young Master, drink this. It replenishes the blood. His Highness specifically ordered someone to buy it and carefully chose the freshest fish. That shows just how concerned he is about you."

Shen Tingjue mashed a plate of braised crucian carp to bits. "Pah. If he cared, why didn't he buy the fish himself and bring it over? And he said it was good for my brain—he was mocking me. Can't you tell?"

Steward Feng gave a dismissive "Ah." "Nothing of the sort, Young Master. You're overthinking it. His Highness absolutely meant nothing else. He was simply concerned about you."

"Are you saying I judge a gentleman's heart with a petty man's mind?" Shen Tingjue huffed and gulped down a mouthful of fish soup. It tasted rather good, so he took another sip before asking, "Whose side are you on, exactly?"

"Of course I'm on your side, Young Master."

Steward Feng smiled kindly and did his best to mediate. "His Highness is just rather blunt by nature. If he said something unpleasant and upset you, don't take it to heart. We're all family, and family should love one another. If you truly can't get over it, pick a dark and windy night, quietly throw a sack over him, drag him into an alley, and beat him up. Wouldn't that vent your anger?"

Though with His Highness's skills, the whole sack-over-the-head thing could only be satisfying in one's imagination.

Shen Tingjue's gaze deepened. "No. Violence isn't my style."

Steward Feng murmured agreement and placed a piece of deboned fish into his bowl.

Shen Tingjue slapped the table, his expression savage. "I'll do this and that to him, then that and this!"

Steward Feng: "..."

Ahem!

Surely he didn't mean what Steward Feng thought he meant?

After being cooped up at home for so long, Shen Tingjue increasingly felt himself growing sluggish. Once he had eaten and drunk his fill, he lay by the railing beneath the corridor eaves and watched the snow. Seeing that he was in low spirits, Steward Feng went to the backyard and brought over the female dog he had previously found to breed with the two wolves, hoping the little thing would cheer him up.

Consort Shu had told Xiao Chongrui to visit Shen Tingjue and show concern for appearances' sake.

As soon as the Imperial College was dismissed, Xiao Chongrui arrived carrying supplements. A servant led the way ahead of him, and the moment he entered the courtyard, he heard Shen Tingjue say, "Take it away. The moment I see it, I think of that bastard Xiao Hanye, and thinking of him makes me mad!"

Xiao Chongrui halted.

Oh ho!

Before he had even made a move, those two had already fallen out?

Wonderful, wonderful.

Shen Tingjue looked at him fiercely. "Were you laughing?"

Xiao Chongrui: "..."

No way, he could tell even that?

He had clearly worked so hard to suppress the corners of his mouth. He had not let them curve upward in the slightest.

The servant following Xiao Chongrui handed the gifts to Steward Feng. Steward Feng accepted them all with a beaming smile, then turned and went to make tea.

Unable to restrain his curiosity, Xiao Chongrui leaned closer and asked gossipily, "Did you quarrel with the Crown Prince?"

Shen Tingjue knew that family shame should not be aired in public, nor could he let others laugh at him. With a snort, he said, "Who said that? We're getting along wonderfully—perfectly matched, singing in harmony, inseparable as glue and lacquer, like fish in water, supporting each other through thick and thin."

Xiao Chongrui: "..."

I'm dying of laughter.

Did he just use every idiom he knew?

Inseparable as glue and lacquer, like fish in water—he made it sound like the two of them were having an affair.

Xiao Chongrui's eyes shifted as he rubbed his hands together, his face full of excitement at sharing gossip. "Want to hear about the Crown Prince's past?"

Shen Tingjue rested his head against the railing. "No."

Pretending not to hear him, Xiao Chongrui cleared his throat and began recounting the Crown Prince's history—how he killed without batting an eye, how he was overbearing and unreasonable. In short, he did his utmost to portray the Crown Prince as a ruthless, lawless scoundrel.

Xiao Chongrui talked until his mouth was dry. Just then, Steward Feng brought over tea, so he hastily gulped down a large mouthful before continuing.

"There was another time. It happened to be Lantern Festival Night. The Crown Prince suddenly came to my residence with the Black Tiger Guard and snatched away the Frost-Soul Grass without a word. Let me tell you, that pot of Frost-Soul Grass came from the Northern Frontier through my uncle. It was incredibly rare—you might search several mountains and still fail to find a single stalk. Yet that bastard Crown Prince just threw me a hundred-tael banknote and forcibly took it away."

"Wait." Shen Tingjue said, "He gave you money, so it doesn't count as robbery."

A hundred taels could buy so many things.

His Highness was quite generous after all.

"A forced purchase and sale—how is that not robbery? When I refused, he was about to swing his fists at me. He even had the Black Tiger Guard hold down my hand and force me to sign a voluntary transfer agreement."

The more Xiao Chongrui recalled it, the more it made his lungs ache with anger. Slapping his thigh, he said, "Besides, it was a rare treasure that money might not even be able to buy. He only gave me a hundred taels—who was he trying to fob off?"

Shen Tingjue raised a brow. "So you thought it was too little money?"

"It was... pfft, no! That isn't the point!" Xiao Chongrui nearly let himself get led astray. He coughed and grew serious. "The point is that grass was life-saving medicine. Even if he had to take it, he should at least have left some for me. What made me even angrier was that I later heard he had fed all the Frost-Soul Grass to a mere shadow guard."

Xiao Chongrui's indignation swelled as he rolled up his sleeves. "Damn it! He made such a huge fuss to seize such rare and precious medicine from his own brother, all for one insignificant shadow guard. Doesn't that make you angry?"

The cold wind blew snow from the eaves, scattering it in every direction like a cloud of mist and creating a hazy, dreamlike scene.

Shen Tingjue suddenly froze. Staring at the pale, drifting snow mist in midair, his eyes slowly lost focus.

Xiao Chongrui drained his tea and turned his head to look at him. Seeing that something was off about his state, he quickly waved a hand in front of him. "Hey, what's wrong with you? Why do you suddenly look like your soul is leaving your body?"

The sounds around him gradually blurred. In his dazed state, countless fragments of the past suddenly surged up in Shen Tingjue's mind, only to vanish in an instant before he could grasp them.

Shen Tingjue furrowed his brow tightly, trying desperately to seize one or two fragments. He clutched his head in both hands, gasped sharply several times, and kept crying that his head hurt.

Steward Feng was startled and hurried over to hold him, lifting his sleeve to wipe away the cold sweat continuously breaking out on his face. He shouted at Dark Seven on the roof, "Go get Physician Zhang! Hurry!"

Dark Seven immediately sped away.

The sudden turn of events left Xiao Chongrui stunned where he stood. When he came back to himself, he abruptly leaped several steps away and retreated again and again.

"My heavens! He, he, he... what's wrong with him? This has nothing to do with me! Steward Feng, you were here the whole time. From beginning to end, I never even touched him with a finger, and I didn't say anything to anger him. His headache absolutely has nothing to do with me—not in the slightest! You have to testify for me!"